The odd thing about watching the shotput event in Olympia, in the stadium where it all started, is that I visited the place as a tourist. And the heat and the dust of it in May were pretty strong; I can imagine the August heat is really something. I've got a few decent photos somewhere that I could post; we lined up on the original starting lines, and walked through the athletes arch. I'm hardly a jock, but touching the ancient stones of Olympia is one of my favorite memories of that trip.

In Olympic terms, the grunting of the shotputters seemed right at home, and seeing the gentle slopes filled (they were meadows when I visited) was surprising. I also caught one location shot of the Temple of Zeus. Not so much of the gymnasium (the old training grounds/locker room) or other ruins, but it's a great venue. Next up in Extreme Nostalgia: running the marathon on the original course from Marathon to Athens, and bringing back the chariot races.

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I've been watching at night (6pm to 2am or so) and NBC isn't doing a lot of tourism, but we did get to see the Olympia staium. I'm glad they didn't reconstruct the place. Can just see the contractors now: "yeah, we'll need to plaster up those bricks, and asphalt over that lawn. Heck, you want better seating than that, give me five days and the boys'll level that area and put up some good grandstands."

Horrors.

Not sure if the chariot races were flights of fancy on your part; aren't they doing the marathon in part on the original route?

Sadly, the original hippodrome in Olympia has long since been washed away by the river. Thus, no chariot races. Actually, given the high death toll in the original Olympic chariot races, perhaps it is just as well.

I hear the marathon will follow some of the original route. Apparently, falling dead at the end is now a figurative element rather than a literal requirement.